


Complimentary Colours

by ABackupHat



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Fluff, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Maybe an AU, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Quadrant Confusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-03 21:16:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABackupHat/pseuds/ABackupHat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Karkat did not want to wear the suit.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>  <i>Kanaya had made him wear the suit, because they were going to finally meet in person for the first time.</i></p><p> </p><p> When Karkat meets Kanaya for the first time in person, things take a strange turn. Quadrants are questioned, awkwardness ensues, and cascading events result in changes for the both of them.</p><p>Red Karkat/Kanaya because there isn't any/enough of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This is Not Troll Graduate

**Author's Note:**

> So sometimes I get terrible ideas. This is one of them.
> 
> Karkat/Kanaya isn't a ship that's explored outside of being morails so I thought I'd write some lovely awkward fluffy crap for it. Most romantic fiction I've seen between them consists of Karkat being Kanaya's personal blood-bank which somehow results in the two getting it on. No thanks. This is going to be a longer exploration of the idea, and it's probably a No-SGrub AU because Kanaya's feelings for Vriska don't get "resolved" until they enter the game which buggers things up for me somewhat.
> 
> Cullage is Troll Cribbage/Poker/serious card game of choice here.
> 
> There probably won't be explicit content. If it comes down to two trolls doing the nasty, I'll do it. I won't write outright porno so it's probably going to be very vague description or outright skipping, so you pervs out there will be disappointed.
> 
> Please give me feedback because I don't know how horrible this is and I need someone to tell me.

Karkat did not want to wear the suit.

Kanaya had made him wear the suit, because they were going to finally meet in person for the first time.

It had started three days ago, when he had been trolling random people on chat. He’d called up Kanaya, who was equally bored, and they’d begun talking. Karkat had suggested they’d meet up as a joke, a wild flight of fancy. After all, how would a candy-blooded mutant be able to go anywhere outside without being culled on the spot? Impossible.

Kanaya had not thought so. Instead, she had made “arrangements.” This apparently involved securing tickets on a lowblood-reserved train, demanding he wear a suit, and not taking his frantic rejections for an answer. He had to admit; she certainly had drive, but had apparently thrown all of her common sense out of the window to die a splattering death.

The suit was a cheap thing ordered online in what he _guessed_ was his measurements, deep red (too close but fuck it) with a white shirt and jet black tie. He’d scrubbed in the abolution block three times over and cursed at his lack of control over his hair. The train ride, three days later, was hours cramped in a corner praying his fake contact lenses would hold out against the train conductors (thankfully the Tealblood had clearly been given too much sopor as a wriggler). It didn’t seem worth it, but as he got closer and closer to his goal, a strange sort of frenzy took ahold of him.

What would she think of him? She didn’t know his blood color – he’d never revealed that to anyone and probably never would. Would she find him distasteful? They had exchanged a photo or two over Trollian, but pictures didn’t quite measure up to real life. Was he clean enough to meet her meticulous standards? He’d have to stay for a day or two – timetables were vague guidelines on Alternia. Could he manage that? He’d packed the necessaries in his captchalogue, but…

The arrival at the designated station was almost a relief, except he had to take a rented vehicle into the desert because Kanaya had chosen to live in an oasis in the sunniest, most hostile place on the planet, for despite all her other wonderful traits she was also a rainbow-drinker-obsessed defective. He didn’t get eaten, culled or lost on the trip, but the sight of the towers bedecked in dazzling sails was the only confirmation he would accept that he’d made it.

And now here he was, outside Kanaya’s hive. The moon was setting, and the bitter chill of the desert blew against his body and made him shiver in his cheap suit. The grass and vibrant sails were dulled in the moonlight. The towers loomed over him like a portent.

He knocked on the door.  It clicked and swung open on his first rap, leaving him standing with one arm in the air. Automatic, right. Inside was warmth (thank the almighty fucking moons), bare walls and an elevator, obviously headed downwards. Figured. Kanaya may be an utter weirdo, but even she couldn’t defy basic Troll biology.

There was only one button. On the way down, Karkat’s thoughts returned to all his fears and apprehensions, smacking him in the pan and refusing to let him be. Was he sweating? Final checks were hastily made, hair almost touched before he lowered his hands with a snort. He'd never make his scraggly hair beyond redemption.

He took a deep breath as the elevator ground to a halt, stepped out into the room beyond, and let his jaw drop.

The room was a thousand square feet of endless white marble – tiled floor, carved walls and arches. In little alcoves hung dresses, suits, armor, scarves, combat kimonos, sails, a riot of colors and shapes and ideas. Viewports with blinds showed the night sky, but their light was overpowered by small lamps that gave a deep orange glow. In the middle of the room was a low table, surrounded by cushions and pillows from every corner of the family tree and host to several wine bottles and two glasses. In one corner of the room was a kitchen, an open-plan thing with a bar and stools, and on one of those stools was Kanaya.

She was tall and slender. That much Karkat had gathered from the photos they had exchanged over Trollian – perhaps a little taller than he had pictured. However, she was not in the black shirt and red skirt that was her trademark. Instead, Kanaya was wearing a strapless black dress with a skirt that “poofed” out at the bottom. The poof effect was lost by having most of it pushed back over the stool she was sitting on, allowing Karkat to see every inch of her lacy jade stockings and high heels. Her long gloves were an equal hue to her stockings. Her black hair was styled just so and her horns spiked from her head like imperial battle-towers. Karkat stared.

Kanaya grinned. Where those fangs? Oh _god_.

“Hello, Karkat.”

It felt like an aeon for Karkat to direct his brain functions to his mouth. “Uh, he- hello? Kanaya? Hello. What- wow. Hi.”

The jade-blood tilted her head. “Strange. You seem far less boisterous in person than you do online.”

“Well fucking  _pardon me_ if I’m not used to being greeted by _Highblood Robinson_ when I undertake the fucking quest of the sweep to meet a friend I only knew off of Trollian.” Slipping into fake hostility felt unnatural in real life compared to over the chat, but Karkat didn’t know how else to respond.

“I shall take the comparison as a compliment.” Kanaya stood up, dress falling into a less licentious position. “I wanted to dress appropriately for an occasion where I finally meet a friend I’ve only ever talked to over the internet.”

“Well you sure nailed it, didn’t you?”

“Do you think so?”

“Drone on a dungpile, Kanaya!” Karkat could feel his mouth begin to run away from him. “I’m not exactly the king of compliments here, but take it as gospel when I say that you look fucking cull-with-a-look gorgeous! I mean… fuck! You look great!”

Kanaya’s smile was now a genuine one. “Thank you very much. I shall forever treasure the moment I wrested a compliment from the breast of Karkat Vantas himself.”

“You fucking better.” Karkat managed a smile back. Seeing her in person – her high cheekbones, her sharp eyes, and her poise – was like watching a picturebook come to life, right there in front of him. This beat photos over Trollian any day.

Kanaya strode over him, and Karkat had enough time to note that she walked like a troll on a mission before she hugged him. He only came up to her shoulder. The hug was as awkward and unpractised as expected, mirrored by his return hug.

“It is fantastic to meet you in person at last,” she murmured.

“Likewise,” Karkat responded.

Kanaya broke the hug. “Let me reassure you of some things before we continue. No, this is not Troll Graduate, and I am not trying to intimidate you. I just want our first meeting to be as memorable as possible for the both of us. Also, my lusus is not here but will have returned by tomorrow, and I would be up Shit River if she found out her charge had been up to no good in her absence.”

“Do you know, that’s a shit-ton better than what would happen to me with my lusus?” Karkat shuddered. “I’d vanish off the face of Alternia like a firework built by a pan-damaged clown.”

“Indeed.” Kanaya turned, leading him over to the cushion apocalypse. “In addition, may I compliment you on your own suit? You look nice.”

Don’t blush, don’t blush. “It’s a cheap piece of drone-made crap, Kanaya.”

“Then you have found the only drone in the empire with a sense of aesthetic. The pockets are a little big but the cut isn’t bad on you and the material isn’t atrocious. It does wonders for you. Sit.”

Karkat found himself pushed gently into the soft morass, Kanaya sitting opposite from him at the low table. The lamps played golden-orange over her hair as she opened a bottle with a deft twist and poured them equal measures of red liquid.  Karkat found himself watching her delicate hands, deciding that his mental database of expletives would have to be shut off for tonight.

“Nice place you have,” he ventured, taking his own glass. “A lot better than the excuse for a hive I’ve got.”

“Most of this place was my work,” Kanaya replied, taking a brief sip. “But a fair portion of it was designed by my lusus as part of the Jadeblood commitment to the empire and all of that nonsense. At least it gives me the space to work and express myself.”

“No posters though.” That was a dumb thing to say, but Karkat couldn’t think of anything else. He took a sip of his wine. The spicy flavour was foreign, and there was no way he could taste any of the flavours the connoisseurs bullshitted about, but he liked it.

Kanaya shrugged. “I am not much of a movie buff. I am, however, a mean Cullage player, as Vriska and Eridan will attest.”

Karkat froze. “The card game? Please, for the love of her Imperious Condescension’s obscene hair, say it’s the card game.”

A chuckle like a piano sonata. “It’s the card game.”

“Oh. I can play.” Karkat relaxed, feeling foolish. He looked at Kanaya, wondering if there wasn’t an ulterior motive. But why? He was a mutant. If she got even so much as a whiff of his blood color, that was it. Right? Maybe it was a lure, a trick, and why the fuck was he being so paranoid around his friend?

Kanaya smiled. “How is the wine?”

“Pretty good. I’ve never had wine before.”

“It’s cheap swill from a local trader. I am not made of money, despite appearances.”

Karkat grinned, relaxed by the admission. “We have some stuff in common.”

“Really?” Kanaya raised an eyebrow. “Did you say you played Cullage?”

“Want to find out, Kanaya?”

The fangs flashed again. “Challenge accepted, Mr Vantas.”

* * *

They played. It turned out Kanaya was better than him by leagues, but it didn’t matter.

They talked about their lives, and that spiralled on to the people they knew. Karkat spun lurid tales about his friends. Sollux the yellowblood with his rigs of server hives and binary obsession. Gamzee the stoned clown worshipper. Terezi the giggling legislacerator-to-be. Kanaya told him pithier stories of Vriska’s aggression, Tavros the shy and retiring brownblood, and Eridan the snooty seadweller. They proceeded on a tangent about Eridan's many hilarious failures in the quadrants. She talked about her dresses on the walls and who she’d made them for. He whistled in impressed disbelief at some of the names – high ranking subjuggulators, fleet admirals, tyrian-blooded generals. They played more Cullage and drank more wine.

By the time Karkat realised they’d both consumed maybe two bottles of alcohol between them, he was telling Kanaya all about the plot of one of his favourite romcoms and the midday sun was trying to burn through the viewports. She was laying on one side, somehow still poised, golden light glancing off of her skin and hair. He was sat back in a makeshift throne of pillows, feeling lazy and content.

“Seriously?” Kanaya, flushed jade-green across her checks and collarbone, was holding back laughter. “What happens then?”

“That, my dear Miss Maryam, would be spoiling the entire fucking plot, which would ruin not only the point of me telling you to watch the thing in the first place but the whole goddamn movie.” It occurred to Karkat that he might be as blushed as Kanaya was, and the fears about his blood color loomed. Then, in a moment of liberation, he decided he didn’t give a squeakbeast’s wet shit. She was his friend, and he had nothing to fear.

“You _have_ to. I will harass and meddle with you forever until you impart this information.”

“Kanaya-”

“Your Trollian will never stop beeping.” Kanaya leaned forward with a fiendish look on her face. “It will haunt you in your every waking moment. I will pursue you and hold your closest friends hostage until-”

“Kanaya, your lusus is here.”

Karkat had never seen a virgin mother grub before. The white skull face came first as the grub crawled into the room via one of the wide doors, wings folded to its bloated body. The blank eyes regarded him as it approached. If it had been flying, he probably would have been able to handle it, but the crawling was strangely obscene, like something from a horror movie. And this thing was Kanaya’s foster mother.

Kanaya paled. “Oh, um… greetings, mother.”

The mother grub ignored her, making straight for the smaller troll. Yellow eyes met grey as the lusus reared up a little, studying Karkat intently. Silence fell. Karkat began to imagine the various different ways the monster in front of him would kill him. Kanaya’s eyes darted back and forth between him and her mother.

Then the creature made a trilling noise and nudged Karkat with its snout, before turning and scuttling off into another room. The two trolls watched it go.

“She… seems to like you.” Kanaya looked shell-shocked. “That is how she says hello.”

“Thank fuck for small mercies,” replied Karkat, mentally praising the heavens. If the lusus had sniffed his blood…

What if it had?

The two trolls glanced at each other.

“You should sleep,” blurted Kanaya.

“Yeah, I really should, I’m about to fall into a coma,” babbled Karkat, standing up hurriedly.

“I’ve got a space recupracoon- ”

“Don’t even bother, I’ll- ”

“Do you need a change of- ”

“No, you dumbass, I captchalogued some spare clothes -”

Both trolls paused.

“Thank you for tonight,” Karkat managed.

“It was a pleasure to finally meet you,” replied Kanaya.

“Likewise. Um… good day.”

“Good day, Karkat.”

When Karkat sank into the sopor of the unfamiliar recupracoon, the events of the night replaying in his head, he fell asleep to guilt-ridden dreams of green stockings, pointed fangs and mother grubs.


	2. Invertebrothers and Soul Sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Karkat and Kanaya deal with their feelings and their nosy friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Putting everything in the Homestuck style sheet sucks and I hate it. Having to reapply the formatting for the colors and whatnot with every new paragraph break is bullshit tedium. Fucking html. I don't understand how anybody that does a pesterlog fic doesn't go insane. If anyone can teach me how not to go mad doing this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Bzzzzzt.

"Nnngh, not nooow..."

Bzzzzzt.

"Nnnnmmmm..."

Bzzzzzt.

"Alrigh', alrigh', 'm fuckin' gettin' up..."

Karkat blearily forced himself from his curled up position and began to wade to the opening of the recupracoon. Began being the operative world. The unfamiliar design began to swing dangerously as he moved, threatening to dump him out if he made a wrong move.

Okay.

Wide awake now, Karkat scooted slowly to the opening instead. The room beyond was unfamiliar, but he wasn't paying attention to it at the moment. Instead, he rummaged through his sylladex, grateful he'd changed to a much simpler and less infuriating modus than his litany of safes, and produced his palm grubtop, which was buzzing with notifications from Trollian.

terminallyCapricious [TC] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]!  
TC: Yo, My BeStESt InVeRtEbRoThEr ThAt EvEr WaS :o)  
TC: wHeRe In ThE MoThErFuCkInG wOrLd MiGhT yOu Be?  
TC: I wAs AlL uP aNd MeSsAgInG yOu LaSt SuNrIsE bUt YoU wErEn'T aNsWeRiNg BaCk

Oh great. Scrolling back, Karkat sighed as he saw more reams of purple inanity. Well, he didn't have anything else to do.

CG: I WASN'T ANSWERING ANY OF YOUR PAN-DAMAGED DRIBBLING FOR SEVERAL EXCELLENT FUCKING REASONS.  
CG: ONE OF THEM IS BECAUSE SPENDING TIME ON YOUR RAVING IDIOCY IS ONE OF MY LEAST FAVOURITE THINGS TO DO, SECOND ONLY TO STRIPPING NAKED, TAPING MY BULGE TO MY CROTCH AND JUMPING IN A VAT OF BURNING HOT GRUB SAUCE.  
CG: AND SECONDLY BECAUSE I WAS BUSY AT A FRIEND'S HOUSE AND THUS HAD NO TIME TO RESPOND TO YOU WITHOUT BEING RUDE TO MY EXCELLENT HOST.  
CG: YOU SHIT.  
TC: Aw, WeLl AiN't ThAt ThE sWeEtEsT tHiNg.  
TC: MiNd TeLlInG mE wHo ThE lUcKy TrOlL mAy Be?

Oh, yeah. Right. he hadn't told Gamzee about his journey to make sure the clown didn't blab to anybody. In fact, come to think of it, he hadn't told anybody else for that exact god-damn reason. Scrolling through his contacts revealed one or two had left questioning messages, wondering why he wasn't on. Well, fuck them. He only had enough patience for Gamzee at the moment.

CG: OKAY FIRST OF ALL, FUCK YOU FOR SUGGESTING THAT I'M BEING SWEET.  
CG: I AM THE COMPLETE AND TOTAL OPPOSITE OF SWEET. I AM A FUCKING HARBINGER OF BLOOD AND VIOLENCE. REMEMBER IT WELL, YOU SOPOR-ADDLED IDIOT.  
TC: hAhA, oKaY, kArBrO, wHaTeVeR yOu SaY.  
CG: SECONDLY, DOUBLE FUCK YOU FOR SUGGESTING THAT THIS TRIP HAD ROMANTIC PURPOSES OF ANY KIND.  
CG: THIS IS A FRIEND TRIP THAT FRIENDS DO IN ORDER TO VISIT OTHER FRIENDS TO DO FRIEND THINGS TOGETHER. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO HINT OF A QUADRANT ANYWHERE IN THIS DAMN PLACE.  
TC: uH HuH.  
CG: "UH HUH?" WHAT THE SPONGE-SHITTING NOOK-FARTING CHRIST DO YOU MEAN "UH HUH?"  
TC: KaRbRo I dOn'T mEaN tO bE RuDe AnD aLl, bUt I rEcKoN mAkInG DaY LoNg MoThErFuCkInG jOuRnEyS tO aNoThEr TrOlL's HiVe Is SoMe PrEtTy SeRiOuS sHiT.  
TC: nOt EvErYoNe DoEs ThAt, YoU dIg?

Shit. The clown was right, it was kind of a big deal. Karkat groaned and rubbed his forehead with a free hand, wondering what do to now Gamzee knew he wasn't at his own hive. The sopor addict would probably drift off after this conversation and not bother attempting to investigate, but there was always the chance he would. And he might find something, although considering this was Gamzee Makara, _might_ was a strong word.

CG: OKAY, JUST  
CG: CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS LATER? I ONLY JUST WOKE UP AND YOUR BULLSHIT WOBBLY TEXT IS WAY HARDER TO READ THAN IT NORMALLY IS.  
TC: nO pRoBlEM, bEsT fRiEnD.  
TC: I sUrE aIn'T gOiNg AnYwHeRe.  
CG: OKAY, LATER MAN. DON'T BRAIN YOURSELF ON THE WALLS OF YOUR HIVE OR SOMETHING.  
TC: HoNk hOnK. :o)  
terminallyCapricious [TC] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG].

Karkat sighed and captchalogued the palm grubtop. Fan-fucking-tastic. He'd deal with the clown much, much later.

He shuffled around in the recupracoon, sinking in a little to take a look at the fairly small room he'd found himself in. It was as ritzy as Kanaya's house tended to be, but without the blurring of the sunlight on it, he could now tell what was actually going on here. She'd gone for a theme of deep red furniture splashed with yellow and some deep blue throws and cushions dumped on top. A very temporary room for a temporary guest. A real, honest-to-god window showed the moon at midnight, glowing over the desert sands and filtering though one of the huge sails. He was probably in one of the towers, then.

Gamzee had not been wrong - it was a big deal that he'd come here. Of course, the clown was reading way too much into it, but not every troll would take off across Alternia to see another troll for purely sentimental reasons. Generally such trips involved the whims of the quadrants, official empire business, or culling and destroying any rebel scum or aberrants hanging around. Visiting another troll for the sake of it wasn't done. The fact that Karkat wasn't even at his own hive would have rung all sorts of alarm bells, and his only saving grave was that he hadn't mentioned whom he was with.

Karkat growled and tried to exit the recupracoon. It was one of those fancy models suspended from the ceiling, and he came close to dumping the stale sopor out onto the floor a few times before he managed to flop out, still in his underwear and dried slime sticking to him. Ew.

So why had Kanaya called him here? There must be some reason, and he couldn't think of anything that couldn't have been sent over Trollian like every other inane conversation.

Nothing trivial, anyway.

Karkat stumbled to the nearest door and opened it. Ablution room. Good. A few toiletries were retrieved from his sylladex and dumped on a shelf in the shower. One trip to the load gaper later, he turned the shower on full and stepped in.

Was it quadrant related? Kanaya certainty could have asked him for advice over chat rather than in person, unless it was something completely earth-shattering like her suddenly falling in spades for Equius or something bizarre like that. She had made a pretty big deal out of it, sure, but her reasoning wasn't enough. You didn't go to all that trouble just for that disease called friendship.

Unless...

No, Karkat. Stop. Kanaya does not have any flushed feelings towards you. She has her hands full with various ashen relationships and being Vriska's Moirail in order to stop the blueblood from turning Tavros to thin paste. She wouldn't look twice at a small shouty idiot who hid his blood color. And he certainty wasn't red for her.

As if to prove him wrong, unbidden images of her blushing expression, the glint of her hair in the light and the god-damn sonofabitching green stockings came to his head. Karkat groaned and pressed his head against the tiled wall to try and prevent them developing further. He felt filthy. He was in her hive, using her facilities and drinking her wine and sleeping in her recupracoons. He couldn't think those thoughts about her. Wrong, nasty, bad, _wrong_.

The fangs. Those tiny little fangs, peeking over her bottom lip.

What he had, Karkat decided as he reached for the controls and turned the shower on cold, was a problem.

* * *

Kanaya had a problem.

GA: For The Last Time I Am Not Going To Reveal To You Why Karkat Is Currently In My Hive  
GA: You Cannot Hold Your Tongue And You Would Surely Reveal This Information To Someone Whom Could Damage Both Karkat And I  
GC: OH COM3 ON K4N4Y4! >:[  
GC: F1RST OF 4LL, 1 WOULD NOT HURT K4RKL3S 1N 4NY W4Y, SH4P3 OR FORM, 4ND 1 DONT L1K3 YOU 1MPLY1NG 1 WOULD S3LL H1M OUT  
GC: ON TOP OF TH4T, 1 C4N SM3LL YOUR L13S THROUGH TH3 SCR33N  
GC: YOU D3F1N1T3LY W4NT H1S BUTT  
GA: I Already Told You I Don't Feel That Way For Him So Why Don't You Keep Your Supersensitive Olfactory System Out Of My Business  
GC: RUUUD3!!! >:O

Terezi was high on the list of "People who should not under any circumstances find out about this whatsoever." So the fact that she had - somehow - deduced that Karkat had made the perilous trip to her hive was disastrous. Kanaya didn't look anything other than composed at the moment, sitting on the cushions in her respiteblock with her grubtop on her lap, but internal alarms were going off.

GA: Look I Have Enough Problems Sorting Out My Quadrants As It Is So I Honestly Would Like It If I Didn't Have The Pressure Of Every Troll On Alternia Finding Out  
GC: LOOK, 1TS NOT M3 YOU SHOULD B3 WORR13D 4BOUT!  
GC: 1 C4N K33P 4 S3CR3T 4S W3LL 4S 4NYON3 C4N  
GA: Well Then What Should I Direct My Concerns To  
GC: W3LL LOOK, YOU'V3 PR3TTY MUCH 1NST1G4T3D TH3 PLOT OF 4 SH1TTY ROM4NC3 NOV3L BY 1NV1T1NG TH1S POOR LON3LY H43NONYMOUS TROLL TO YOUR H1V3  
GC: TH3 ONLY TH1NG L3FT TO DO 1S TO H4V3 S3V3R4L D4YS OF T3NS1ON WH3R3 YOU WORK OUT WH4T YOUR F33L1NGS 4R3  
GA: Terezi  
GC: B3FOR3 4DM1TT1NG YOUR F33L1NGS 1N 4 DR4M4T1C D1SPL4Y OF P4SS1ON 4ND P41L1NG 1N FRONT OF TH3 F1R3  
GA: No  
GC: >:]  
GC: > :]  
GC: >:]  
GC: > :]  
GA: See This Is Exactly Why I Didn't Tell You You Always Make Light Of These Kinds Of Situations  
GA: I Mean I Cant Take Advantage Of Him In That Manner For A Start  
GA: And After My Breakup With Vriska I Would Look Pathetic Like A Rebounding Antiterror Shell Going Flying Into The Face Of The Archeradicater Who Fired It

That's another thing Kanaya hadn't told many people. She couldn't deal with her feelings for Vriska. She needed to be her Moirail to stop her wreaking further havoc on the people around her, but she _wanted_  her. And she couldn't have both, and every day trying to stop her hurting people and trying to find the good in her was killing her.

So she ended it. Vriska hadn't taken it well. Neither had she. Kanaya felt sick, running away from the whole thing, leaving Tavros to the wolves and an angry Vriska.

And now she had Karkat here. Why  _did_ she have Karkat here?

GC: PFFFT WHO G1V3S 4 SH1T K4N4Y4  
GC: L1ST3N, NOBODY B3L13V3S TH3 OLD "F4T3D FOR L1F3" CR4P TH3 QU4DR4NTS 4R3 M34NT TO B3, ONLY 3R1D4N TH1NKS TH4T  
GC: 4ND 1 DONT TH1NK 4NYBODY C4N T4K3 4DV4NT4G3 OF K4RKL3S, H1S FORC3 OF P3RSON4L1TY 1S JUST TOO STRONG  
GC: BUT YOU 1NV1T3D H1M TO YOUR H1V3 4CROSS M1L3S OF D3S3RT 4ND THROUGH D4NG3RS UNKNOWN 4ND M4NY  
GC: 4ND NOW H3S TURN3D UP, KN1GHT 1N SH1N1NG 4RMOR, 4ND WOND3R1NG WH4T 4LL TH3 FUSS 1S 4BOUT  
GC: 1F YOU DONT T3LL H1M SOON TH3R3S GO1NG TO B3 TROUBL3  
GA: But I Dont Want Him  
GC: BULLSH1T SOUL S1ST4H  
GC: YOU W4NT SOM3ON3 TO G1V3 YOU 4 HUG 4ND T3LL YOU 3V3RYTH1NG 1S OK4Y 4ND YOU 4R3NT 4 T3RR1BL3 P3RSON FOR POT3NT14LLY L3TT1NG VR1SK4 OFF H3R L34SH  
GC: 4ND FR4NKLY K4RK4T 1S TH3 B3ST TH3R3 1S 4T TH4T, DONT L3T H1S SHOUTY NUBBY F4C3 FOOL YOU  
GA: Fuck  
GC: >:O  
GA: You Are Right  
GA: Perhaps  
GA: But What Do I Do Now  
GC: W3LL DO35 YOUR LUSUS L1K3 H1M  
GA: Er Yes But I Dont See What That Has To Do With Anything  
GC: W3LL YOUR3 SORT3D  
GC: LUSUS 1NTU1T1ON 1S L1K3 TH3 NUMB3R ON3 TH1NG YOU N33D 1F YOU BR1NG 4 N1C3 YOUNG TROLL TO YOUR H1V3  
GC: 1TS R34L 4ND YOU GOT 1T  
GA: Oh Well I Suppose I Just Have To Deal With The Easy Relationship Stuff Then  
GC: JUST T3LL H1M STR41GHT UP  
GC: H3 DO3SN'T L1K3 1T WH3N YOU D4NC3 4ROUND TH3 1SSU3  
GC: BUT ONLY WH3N YOUR3 R34DY OF COURS3  
GA: Okay Then I Guess I Dont Have A Choice Do I  
GA: I Will Endeavour To Be Honest  
GC: GOOD LUCK K4N4Y4  
GA: Thank You  
GC: >:]  
gallowsCallibrator [GC] ceased trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA].

Well then.

Kanaya closed her grubtop, set it aside and left the room.

* * *

They met on the landing. Both were in their normal clothes - Karkat in the sweater and grey pants, Kanaya in her shirt and red dress. They stared at each other, eyes not quite meeting.

"Good evening, Karkat. Sleep well?"

"Yeah."

Karkat forced himself to make eye contact. She smiled. He felt like he should say something.

What came out of his mouth was "Shall we get breakfast?"

"That sounds like a good idea."

The moment lost, the two went down to the food preparation block.


	3. Sometroll to Pity by Empress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Kanaya have an awkward talk. Then they dance.

Karkat didn’t think it was possible for anybody to run out of small talk. Yet, sitting in the relaxation block with Kanaya, he’d used up all of his topics of conversation. The weather was nice. Kanaya’s lusus was doing chores. They had nothing to do right now. Breakfast was okay. And that was pretty much everything Karkat felt comfortable covering.

The troll checked his palm grubtop, swearing under his breath. He'd been in contact with the others for a while now, trying to dissuade them from sticking their noses where they weren't wanted. Vriska in particular was being insufferable, although thankfully she hadn't deployed her bullshit mind control powers to prise it from him yet. By contrast, Terezi was doing the suspicious routine of "no, I don't know where you are, honest" that said the exact opposite. As he dealt with each and every goddamn moron who wanted to peer into his private life, his frustration grew until he was spitting expletives at the screen.

Kanaya was sitting next to him on one of the largest cushions, sewing together something that, if forced at gunpoint, he'd call a dress. She looked up at one of his more energetic curses.

"Having problems keeping the press off of your back?" she quipped.

"I'd have more fucking fun lifting an adult hoofbeast over my head." Karkat swiped away a message from Sollux. "Why does every asshole on Alternia need to know what I'm up to at every second? Even fucking Tavros is asking me, and I don't even talk to him."

"You could just tell them. It is not as if this is any kind of salubrious scandal. It is just two friends hanging out."

"Are you kidding me? There is no way in hell anybody will just assume that. Everyone on this damn planet thinks with their bulges and not their shrivelled thinkpans. Also, I'm pretty fucking sure you didn't use salubrious correctly there."

"Oh well."

With a sigh, Karkat shoved his grubtop back into his sylladex and flopped backwards into the cushions. The ceiling didn't have a lot going for it, but he stared at it anyway. He heard Kanaya sewing from what felt like a mile away, and said "Why did you bring me here, anyway?"

The sewing stopped.  "Why do you think?"

"Well, gee, Kanaya, I'd love to believe you when you said you just wanted to hang out, but I'm pretty fucking sure you  _know_  that making a dangerous journey across this miserable load gaper of a planet is not something done lightly."

"And I appreciate your determination."

Karkat opened his mouth and realised that raising his voice any further might be a death sentence. There were a lot of undead out in the desert, and they wouldn't say no to a candy-blooded mutant who got thrown out on his ass. He shut his mouth. The sewing hadn't resumed, so he sat up and saw Kanaya staring at him with an... Expression.

"Look," he said, speaking slowly and choosing each word carefully, "I appreciate it if you don't want to tell me. It's private. And I'm sorry I got mad. But... you're my friend and I want to trust you, and I can't because..."

"Because what?"

Karkat swallowed, wondering how much she knew and how much she could guess. "Let's say the journey here was more dangerous for me than you thought."

There was a pause, and then Kanaya tilted her head and whispered, "Your haemonymity."

"What? No, I... yeah." Karkat looked away.

"I remember last night. You'd drunk a lot. I thought it was just the light."

There was a little goblin made of ice in Karkat's stomach, kicking and screaming. "No, it wasn't."

This was quite possibly the stupidest fucking way for anybody ever to find out about his blood color. Worse than being cut open by a medicarcerator, worse than having Equius find out and being turned into flatcake, worse than having Vriska find out. Instead, his friend had found out when he'd gotten drunk and showed off the damn candy-red carnival all over his face. He might as well have just hung a "cull me" sign on his front.

"Actually..." Kanaya had a very strange grin that let those two canine fangs shine like knives. "I may have drunk quite a lot of alcohol that night too. Perhaps I merely interpreted the lighting in the wrong way. Furthermore, it would be very rude of me to presume the blood color of my friend, and I wouldn't speculate on such a matter."

The ice goblin ran away. Karkat felt his face involuntarily curling into a smile as he realised what Kanaya meant.

"Yeah, that's it! That's exactly what it was! And on top of that, you're an idiot for thinking that!"

"The biggest idiot on Alternia," said Kanaya. She turned back to her sewing machine and carried on with her work. "I apologise for even thinking about it."

To say this was the happiest day in Karkat's life was wrong, because he hadn't experienced that yet.

 

* * *

 A short while later, Karkat was no longer happy.

"This is stupid," he hissed, pulling at the collar of his suit. Once again, he'd been forced to wear it, and this time he was really starting to loathe it.

"And to think you were my willing guest earlier." Kanaya was in a new dress, a bright red affair with a black belt. Her wardrobifier had been put onto a relatively calm setting for now, so neither of them would be taken by surprise as she fiddled with the grubophone on the desk. Karkat glared daggers at the antique music player.

"You agreeing not to say a word about my blood color does not fucking translate into you having the god-given right to teach me how to dance." He snarled.

"The alternative would be to sit on our rear ends pointlessly trolling our friends," Kanaya replied curtly. "This seems like a much more productive use of our time, and furthermore will give you skills that will help you fill your barren quadrants, which I'm sure you'll treasure."

"What is this, a romcom?"

Kanaya gave him another grin. "Just what you always wanted."

Karkat opened his mouth to say that it nothing like he wanted, and anyway this kind of thing usually resulted in the dancing couple falling flushed for each other, which was the last fucking thing on his mind since they were friends and going any further than that would be a worse idea than rebelling against the Condesce with nothing but a few sticks and a rock. Then Sometroll to Pity, that single by Empress that wasn't used that often, came on, and Kanaya took his hands in hers, standing against him. Karkat looked up at the looming troll.

"Kanaya-"

"Hush. Follow my lead."

It was... interesting. The first moments were clumsy and full of Kanaya giving pointed instructions and Karkat pouring out curses in a waterfall of fuck. Having never slow-danced before, the smaller troll was thankful that Kanaya kept it simple, although every glance at his feet made him feel incompetent and every instruction was a whip. The music was good. He liked the song a lot but he'd never tell anyone. And eventually they got something going, and he was close enough to her to feel her breathing as they moved around the room. When he looked up at her face, her brow was in a slight "v", but she smiled at him.

The music ended, and they parted.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Kanaya had her motherly voice on.

"I guess not," said Karkat, and then he realised (partly in horror, partly in awe) that he was flushed for Kanaya, so he said "Can we go again?"

The jadeblood blinked. "O-of course."

As Kanaya put on another track and took his hands, Karkat looked up at Kanaya, searching for some kind of clue, some hint, an answer to what he was now feeling for the jadeblood. But all he saw was that little "v" of thought and the two fangs as she bit her lip in focus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody to Love is Queen's best song that isn't Bohemian Rhapsody or Don't Stop Me Now, and I will internet-fight you about it if you disagree. There will be data-blows. If you die on AO3, you die in real life.
> 
> I really wanted to have Karkat reveal his blood color in a better fashion, but then again I never plan anything.
> 
> I may have another chapter up for Christmas! You never know.


	4. The Easy Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Kanaya surpass the easy part. Then gossip ensues.

"Fuck."

Of all the times - of all the taint-chafing, teeth-pullingly horrible times - to become flushed for somebody, Karkat had chosen the time where he was at the very hive of the friend he'd fallen red for, holding goddamn hands and dancing with her like the sappiest fucking feel-good movie of the sweep.

"Fuck!"

This was bad beyond belief, so bad that not even the most feverent subjuggulator would take it at face value. Karkat, back in his usual clothes and pacing his room, ran a hand through his hair and tried to think of what to do.

"Fuuuuuuuuck."

He sat down heavily on the sofa. His friend! Kanaya, his friend. Fan-fucking-tastic, you quadrantless, clueless fuckup. Only you could get flushed for your friend like a wriggler that pupated a weak too early. Now, let's sit here and figure out exactly why you chose to make such a moronic move.

Well, she was attractive - probably the most attractive out of all of the trolls Karkat deemed his friends. This wasn't a difficult feat considering the other two trolls who paid attention when dressing themselves, Eridan and Feferi, enjoyed the styles "hipster catastrophe" and "pastel supernova" respectively. Physically, Kanaya was slim and tall and she held herself like something out of a fashion catalogue, or a noble from a pre-rebellion drama. She knew what to wear and what to say, and anything she wore looked amazing on her. Karkat's mind flicked back to the green stockings, filing them under the "nobody must know" category in his brain.

She cared about people. Vriska hadn't called the jadeblood "Fussyfangs" for no reason. If there was possibly some way to help her friends, Kanaya would take it. If that meant flitting in and out of the quadrants like a moth near a fire, then so be it, apparently. In fact, her moirallegiance with Vriska was a damn good... _half_ of a moiraillegiance. Kanaya's ability to stop the blueblood from turning Tavros into a brown smear was textbook. Vriska, however, didn't give much back except whining and complaining. Even Equius was appreciative of what Nepeta did for him...

Okay, getting off track. Back onto stupid wibbly red feelings for your friends.

She saw right through Karkat's stupid angry fuckshitidiot mask and made him feel angry, upset and happy at the same time. She had a good taste in music. She could have fun without looking like an idiot. In summary, Kanaya was a pretty awesome person to be around. Her own flushed quadrant was empty too (although gossip claimed she was making the eyes at Vriska, which was lies upon slander). It pretty much screamed "ask her out" in big bold neon letters.

Karkat stood up like he'd recieved an injection of caffeine. Fine then. It was settled. He was going to tell her. If she said no, fine. If she kicked him out of the hive, even better. His own lusus would have probably punched a hole in his hive wall by now and he couldn't just leave his dad there. It'd end the dumb questions from his friends and they'd never speak of it again.

If she said yes...

He hurried out before he could pursue that train of thought.

* * *

"Karkat, I have not been honest with you."

Kanaya's first sentence had stopped Karkat dead in the doorway of the relaxation block. She was wearing something purple and vaguely south-eastern to accompany her look of anxiety. A million terrible ideas flooded the smaller troll's head, but he crossed the room to join her on the cushions anyway.

"What about?" He didn't want an answer. It could be anything, and that was the horror of it. The ever present fear - his blood color, his mutant status - rose up, threatening him with being sold out.

Kanaya sighed, looking downwards. "I did not lie when I said I invited you for purely platonic reasons. However, the chain of events leading up to this has been obscured from you, and I cannot keep you in the dark any longer."

Oh, wonderful. Karkat said nothing.

"I broke up with Vriska a month or so ago." Kanaya raised a finger as Karkat opened his mouth. "I did not tell you because you, of all people, would be most keen to try and analyse my thinkpan in an attempt to... rationalise it, or make me feel like more of a failure. Your obsession with the quadrants is -"

"Like more of a...! Fuck off, Kanaya!" Karkat clenched his fists, interrupting her. "You didn't _fail_ at that moiraillegance! You were the only goddamn reason it _wasn't_ a failure! You had every damn right to-"

She raised a hand, cutting off his tirade. "I know, Karkat." She stared at the floor, ghost-like and detached. "I did. But I did not do it for noble reasons, and by ending it, I have let down my most vulnerable friends. You see, I..."

Karkat stared, unsure what to feel. She was telling him all of this now? He could have done something if she'd told him earlier! Well, he'd have probably fucked it up, because it was impossible to reason with Vriska on a good day, but it would have -

"I felt flushed for her."

Karkat blinked in amazed horror. "Holy _shit_ , Kanaya."

Kanaya shook her head. "I could not continue our relationship. I struggled to restrain her, but I yearned to be with her - for what reason I've forgotten, but I'm sure it was _excellent_. I couldn't deal with the confusion, so I ended it."

A tidal surge of pity swept up Karkat's torso. "Kanaya, I'm so fucking sorry. That..."

Kanaya smiled weakly. "It is okay, Karkat. I will live. However, I am unsure if poor Tavros will if Vriska turns her fangs on him, now that I am not there to mediate."

Without thinking, Karkat leaned over, arms raised, and wrapped Kanaya in a hug. She was warm and her return hug was stronger, pressing him to her like a mother with her child. She wasn't crying, he noticed. Maybe she'd cried herself empty already.

"I needed something." Kanaya's voice was muffled, her face buried into his shoulder. "Something to stop me going crazy. So when you suggested coming to see me..."

"No wonder you were so goddamn enthusiastic." Karkat couldn't help smiling a little.

"Did you ever read Troll Rapunzel as a wriggler?" Kanaya ended the hug. "I felt how that girl must have felt, trapped on her own and left to wallow in her own misery. I would have been much like the tale if you had not visited. Your short time here has already helped me get over the whole thing, although truthfully I probably should have gotten over it the day after."

She paused.

"Thank you, Karkat."

"Happy to help, Kanaya."

The two shared smiles. This is it, thought Karkat. This is the moment where I confess everything and everything either shines rainbows and happiness out of our assholes, or I get rejected. Except I can't, because she's just offloaded a ton of quadrant problems on me and I can't possibly do that to her, it would just make everything even more -

"Of course, considering I am flushed for you," said Kanaya, as if mentioning the weather, "I suspect that solving the issue may be more complicated than it appears."

For a brief, immeasurable moment, Karkat's world ended. His jaw dropped. He stared blankly at Kanaya as if she'd just revealed her favourite sexual peversion.

"Fucking _what_?" he squeaked.

"A little somebody told me to be straight with you." Kanaya winked.

Karkat searched his brain for words to build a rant out of, and instead came up with, "Why?"

"You care." The jadeblood tilted her head, her face flushing a little. "You care about everybody and try to help them, no matter how much you moan and whine about it. You offer Eridan your ear, you stop Gamzee from becoming the horrible thing he could be, and you even try to stop Equius from abusing his position."

She grinned a little at Karkat's flushed face. "I must also profess that I find your love of romantic comedies and your desire to be taken so seriously incredibly endearing."

Her eyes lowered, not meeting his. Her smile slipped away. "I... won't be upset if you reject me. I must look pathetic, luring a troll to my hive to fill my quadrants after so long. It -"

Karkat raised a hand, feeling like he was surrounded in golden light and deadly certain of what he had to do.

"You're not pathetic," he said, and kissed her.

* * *

AG: I dunnoooooooo, Kanaya!  
AG: You did say a lot of nasty things 8ack when we 8roke up!  
GA: And I Apologise Profusely For Them  
GA: But I Had Various Personal Issues I Needed To Resolve At The Time  
GA: I Can Only Hope That Since They Are Now Resolved You Will Accept My Apologies And Accept Me As Your Moirail Again  
AG: Hmmmmmmmm.  
AG: Okay!  
GA: Wait Really  
AG: Of course I will, silly!  
AG: Truth 8e told, I missed you fussing me around a little 8it. ::::)  
AG: What's say we pretend the whole thing never happened?  
GA: If It Makes You Happy Then Okay  
AG: Gr8!  
AG: I'm reeeaaaal busy right now, 8ut I'll 8e 8ack to arrange a jam with you l8r, promise!  
GA: I'm Glad You Decided To Have Me Back  
AG: No problem, fussyfangs.  
AG: Glad to have you back.  
AG: <>  
GA: <>  
arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling grimAuxillatrix [GA]!

Kanaya breathed a sigh and closed Trollian.

"That went much better than expected." She leaned back in her seat, which now consisted of not only cushions, but Karkat sitting behind her, watching with bated breath over her shoulder.

"Yeah, color me fucking surprised." Truth be told, the reconciliation make Karkat uneasy. He didn't know Vriska too well, but she was probably planning something, and accepting Kanaya's apology and becoming her moirail again might have been a needy grab at resetting the status quo as it was part of a scheme. Still, results were results. If it delayed Vriska flat-out killing Tavros, then it was a good thing.

He ran his hands up Kanaya's back, kneading the muscles in her shoulders as she breathed out and leaned her head back against his shoulder. Goddamn. God- _fucking_ -damn. She was his and he was hers and it had all happened so fast, like a fucking fairy tale from Tavros' shitty wriggler stories for dumb pupates, and he was so goddamn happy.

"When did you..." he began, and faltered. "You know."

"Start feeling for you?" Kanaya turned her head slightly. "I think it may have been a day or two before you arrived. Of course, your continued presence in my hive only made it worse."

"I knew it." Karkat grinned slyly. "I knew that dancing would do it. Every fucking time."

"Is that from another romcom?"

"Practically every fucking one, Kanaya. Usually the most pan-searingly boring ones that tick off scenes like a fucking checklist."

Kanaya raised an eyebrow. "Considering how quickly we admitted our feelings to each other, I think we may be living in one of those."

"Yeah, well." Karkat shuffled closer, his arms sneaking under Kanaya's shoulders in a hug around her midsection. "I'm not gonna say no."

"Neither am I." Kanaya turned and kissed him, a short, compact little thing that said everything it needed to. When she pulled back, her top fangs peered over her bottom lip with her smile.

* * *

She cut his hair. She refused to, in her words, "put up with that utter mess for a moment longer." He grumbled and cursed to save face, but when she had finished, the much more controlled and trendier style felt like liberation.

Then, in her respiteblock, she showed him her various works in progress. He pointed out a green-and-red legislacerator outfit that he liked particularly.

"Complimentary colors," Kanaya said, grinning.

Karkat smiled back. "How about that, huh?"

* * *

CG: I KNEW PAST ME SHOULDN'T HAVE SENT ALL THOSE STUPID MESSAGES TO YOU WHEN HE WAS PANICKING ABOUT GOING TO KANAYA'S HIVE.  
GC: H3H3H3  
GC: HOW LONG DO YOU PL4N TO ST4Y TH3R3 K4RKL3S?  
CG: NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN BUSINESS, TEREZI.  
GC: >:]  
GC: > :]  
GC: >:]  
GC: > :]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end. Let's post-mortem this bitch.
> 
> There's a bunch of typos I want to go fix but I'm too lazy to do, so there's that. Also 4 chapters is not long enough to write a fucking rarepair story, no sir. I don't feel I did Karkat justice either. If this was a longer story, I'd have had more room to explore both characters and do them justice instead of this cramped piece of shit.
> 
> I hope you guys have a good new years! Dunno what I'll write next. Maybe one or two more SburbCom bits to keep my hand in. I may write something longer if I can rip myself away from Pokemon X long enough.


End file.
